A.S. Roma vs. Bayern München Soccer Game

Yesterday, November 23, I went to a Roma soccer game here in the city.  Their stadium is the old 1960 Olympic Stadium.  It's nice to see that Roma is making use of it instead of letting it just fall apart into disarry like the Greeks in Athens....

Anyway, the game was at 8:45 PM, so I got ready after class in my Roma gear and met up with three girls I've met here from St. Mary's in California, Kelly, Megan, and Genine.  We took the tram and then hopped on the 280 bus which took us all the way to the stadium.  The bus took a while to get to our stop, but it was a blast.  It was completely packed with crazy Roma fans and I knew I was in for a treat! 

We got to the stadium a little late because the grils took a while to get ready - girls will be girls.  Anyway, so we got there about half way into the first half.  The halfs are 45 minutes each with a 15 minute half time.  They don't stop the clock when the ball goes out of bounds or anything which I thought was a little weird. 

I was told that this game would be kind of subdued compared to other games, so I wasn't expecting much excitment - how wrong I was!  After we figured out the correct gate to go into based off of our tickets, we climbed the stairs and entered a stadium PACKED with screaming fans.  The Italians were yelling and pointing their hands and screaming at the ref's calls.  The Munich fans were quarantined into one section with security surrounding them.  When we got to the game, the score was already 0-1 Munich.  Soon after we sat down, Munich scored again and their fans lit a fire in the stands in celebration.  The entire stadium was filled with smoke, but luckily it has an open roof over the field.  Roma then scored one goal to bring the score to read 1-2 Munich at halftime.  Romas fans also lit a celeabratory fire in the crowd as well!  Halftime was kind of boring.  Apparently Italy has never heard of halftime entertainment like we have back in the States....

There were Italians smoking all throughout the game.  Between them yelling in our ears, climing over seats, waving flags like crazies, and drinking, they were all smoking like chimneys!  It was great! 

When the second half started, it got pretty intense.  It was back and forth on the field the entire time.  The Curva Sud, or the South Curve, of the stadium where most of the Roma fans sit was going CRAZY!  They were waving flags, leading cheers, and yelling at the Munich fans.  We sat in the Curva Nord, or North Curve of the stadium where it was a little bit more subdued.  The girls didn't want to sit with the "crazy fans".  I was totally down for the other side of the staidum, but whatever.  About 30 minutes into the second half, Roma scored their second goal and we lit another celebratory fire in the Curva Sud.  At this point it was tied, and their were only 15 minutes left.  Munich and Roma fans started going at it.  The security had to stop them from crossing into eachother's sections.  It got pretty intense and there was a bunch of yelling, dirty Italian words flying left and right, and not so nice hand gestures being exchanged.  I officially fell in love with Roma games at this point.  Then, someone in the Munich side set off a red smoke bomb and the security went crazy.  As the game got more intense, the players kept going.  With about 7 minutes left in the game, Roma scored our third goal for us to take the lead on a penalty shot.  The crowd went absolutely CRAZY and people were cheering.  The Munich section just stood their in disbelief.  It was so awesome and we didn't know the cheers but tried to join in anyway! 

Then, as time ran out, we won the game 3-2.  It was so intense and I was so happy I got to go. 

At the end of the game, when Roma wins, they played this song that all of the Italians joined in on.  They waved their flags, held up their scarves, and kissed their significant others while singing the victory song: Grazie Roma.  It was so awesome! 

As the Italians left the stadium, they took their last jab, yelled their last cuss word, and waved goodbye to the Munich fans who we quarantined in their section until well after the game. 

After we left the staidum, we had a time and a half trying to get home.  It started to rain, the buses were packed, and it was so late that the buses were going to stop running about an hour after the game ended.  We tried to get on the bus we took to get to the staidum, but all of these Italians shoved us out of the way and we almost got trampled.  It was a total survivial of the fittest.  The bus was so packed, the doors could barely close.  By this time it was almost midnight, and that's when the buses stop.  Basically, we were stranded on the outskirts of Rome in the middle of no where on the other side of the city.  So, we just hopped on a bus that we saw and hoped it would take it close to our neighborhood.  Luckily, it took us to St. Peter's Square and we caught a taxi for 10 Euro from there.  All in all, it was an awesome night.  So amazing to see Italians in their element and join in the fun!